Basic Information

This page, except for a few edits and the deletion of most of the route, remains as written in 2008. Our long-time
friends will remember that TCP drove a nationwide Caravan that summer to
honor mothers relocating with their children and those affected by custody,
visitation, and move away issues, to raise awareness, and to bring attention
and support to their plight. Called “Cruisin' for a Cause 2008,” the two-week
long Caravan across the United States was led by the Founder of The Custody
Project. Retaining most of its content and format as originally posted in
2008 on Facebook, please visit the Caravan below
to read about this event, which we hope occurs again. We hope you will
be inspired to assist our mothers and their children by also supporting our
future Caravans / National Drives and our service of financially assisting qualified
mothers with custody and visitation expenses.

And, to read a brief overview of what The Custody Project does and why, we have included three paragraphs here:

The Custody Project assists qualified mothers and their children impacted by custody and visitation issues,
and hopes that legislative improvements eventually will make their lives easier. In recognition of the financial
challenges and difficulties now faced under current laws when families address domestic violence, abuse,
legal attempts to remove custody, legal restraints that prevent mothers from improving the quality of life
for their families, and absent or inadequate child support, The Custody Project has been assisting children
and their mothers since 1994 via its mission, "to promote the general welfare, both directly
and indirectly, of women and their children as a unit, as related to care, custody, and visitation issues."
The Custody Project is a 501(c)(3), charitable, tax-exempt Nonprofit Organization, Fed. Tax ID #95-4521373,
and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.

Through its Heart to Heart grants, The Custody Project has alleviated financial burdens by paying toward legal
costs for mothers defending custody and visitation of their children in courts, and by providing needed
funds to mothers to meet their families' basic living expenses when overarching legal expenses prevent
them from doing so. Grants have been dispersed to attorneys directly or, when mothers have managed to pay
some part of their attorney bills by not paying their monthly bills, The Custody Project has helped with common necessities and other legal expenses. TCP has also assisted in ways which include
small loans, telephone support, brief lectures, information exchange, and directly meeting with mothers.

The Custody Project has assisted families in 22 states [by 2008], and our range continues to expand.

Summer 2008 Caravan

The Founder of The Custody Project, Donna Signorelli, will be driving across the
United States to raise awareness about some of the issues affecting mothers and
children, and to assist mothers who could benefit from TCP's services, as discussed above.

Her progress will be tracked on this page and the Route:
Progress Updates will take you to the drive itinerary.
For beginning and ending points, their directions, to follow along
from where you are, or to join the drive as you can, please read on.

This nationwide drive honors move away mothers relocating with their children and
those affected by custody, visitation, move away, domestic violence, and child
support issues, bringing attention and support to the difficulties these families
frequently face, and the milestones they achieve. For a Discussion regarding Perils
these mothers frequently encounter, click here.

The Summer Caravan 2008 is to acknowledge and honor all mothers who have interacted
with the courts, and those impacted by the legal system. We honor the mothers who
struggle, the mothers and children who suffer, those abused, molested, tortured,
and deceased, those mothers imprisoned in their attempts to protect their children,
those with inadequate or no child support, those who suffer legal attempts to remove
custody, those who suffer legal restraints preventing them from improving the quality
of life for their families, those refused move away orders and prevented from moving,
those having lost custody, those with visitation rights, those who have custody, and
those granted court orders to move. All of these mothers, their families, friends,
neighbors, coworkers, relatives, women's groups, businesses, corporations, nonprofits,
service organizations, coalition representatives, and other concerned and caring
people are welcome to join our caravans. (The only group actively discouraged from
caravanning are mothers with active cases before the courts). Those mothers recently
granted court orders and moving West to East are welcome to caravan with us for any
part of the journey coincident. In acknowledging the challenges these families face
and celebrating with mothers who successfully obtain good court orders, especially
move away orders this summer, we also celebrate those wonderful laws which are assisting
mothers and children every day, the attorneys who crafted them, and the judges who
enforce them because these laws, and these people, are saving lives.

Remember, if you don't care, they don't matter.
We care, and they matter.

May you join us? Yes. Visit here for updates, where and when to join along the way,
and for route changes. Meeting points will be parks, rest stops, and convenient
locations near the entrance ramps along the drive. Look for The Custody Project sign.

The Route

Start: The Custody Project 2008 Summer Caravan officially runs from June 29 - July 4th, 2008, from the West Coast to the East, beginning Sunday, June 29th, 2008 @ 11 am at the Pacific Ocean in front of 105 Rockaway Beach Ave., Pacifica, CA.

Start Directions: From San Francisco, follow Hwy 1 South to Pacifica; @ 1.6 miles south of Sharp Park Road, take a right at Rockaway Beach Avenue, go .1 mile (one-tenth) and meet @ 11 am at the Pacific Ocean/jetty in front of Ristorante Portofino. Look for The Custody Project sign.

End: Driving through San Francisco, continue East on I-80, I-74, and I-70 into Washington, D.C., continuing on 50E/S to Hwy 90 to The Atlantic Ocean at the end of 62nd Street, Ocean City, MD, ending the journey sometime between the evenings of July 3rd and July 4th, 2008.

End Directions: From Salisbury, MD, follow Hwy 50E/S to 90E. At the intersection of Hwy 90 and Hwy 528, continue east over the bridge, to the Atlantic Ocean at the end of 62nd Street (near JR's the Original Place for Ribs @ 6104 62nd Street and Coastal Hwy, Ocean City, Maryland). Look for The Custody Project sign. Time: TBA. For updates, check here or at the end, in updates.

Unofficially, the caravan is longer, looping from Florida to California, across to Maryland, ending again in Florida, and will take approximately two weeks to complete.

We hope that some day, the Caravan can be expanded to teams of drivers creating relays in the USA so that any mother obtaining court orders to move during that time may caravan along with drivers to her new home with her children. This could be done through a hub relay (assuming Lincoln, NE as the hub), a perimeter relay and east-west relays in the contiguous United States, and circular relays in Hawaii, Alaska, and the Territories. If you are interested in volunteering for this project, call 850.682.3460 after July 10, 2008.

Official Drive Progress Updates

Donna on the Drive: starting at Pacifica on 6/29/08, continuing to I-80E, in a Blue Toyota Prius, TBA (Times To Be Announced), and updating as we go. Look for The Custody Project sign in the back window of the Prius.

07/04/08, I-70, 11:50 pm ET, arrived in Washington D.C.

UPDATE: The drive will end at the Atlantic Ocean @ 6 pm ET, 07/05/08.

07/05/08, in Washington D.C. until early afternoon. Car troubles caused some morning delays.

07/05/08, from 50E, caught 90E into Ocean City. At 5:55, parked next to the Atlantic at the end of 62nd Street (see information and directions near the top of this article).

- The Drive ended at the Atlantic Ocean at 6:00 p.m., concluding the transcontinental commemoration in honor of mothers and their children.

To Donate

TCP is funded by donations and grants from corporations, businesses, and mostly, by ordinary, caring people.

To make tax-deductible contributions, please make checks payable to The Custody Project and, in the memo line, write “Summer 2008 Caravan.” To make online donations via our secure sites, visit our Donate Now Buttons. A percentage of your donation will help cover traveling expenses with the majority going to assist mothers in need in accord with our Heart to Heart Guidelines. Tax-deductible donations of any amount will help, as will private sponsorships as non-tax-deductible gifts, below. To participate, sponsor a driver, and hold fundraisers, please contact us.

The Custody Project is a 501(c)(3) charitable, tax-exempt nonprofit organization, Fed. Tax ID #95-4521373, and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.

For those tracking the drive on Facebook, please invite your friends to donate and to help spread the word through online social communication avenues. To those asking, How Can I Help? Please visit our site, especially that section. Your compassion always helps our families and your dollars make the difference.

To Sponsor Donna on the Drive

Some people have asked if they could help defray traveling expenses and Sponsor Donna on the Drive. You can do so by making checks payable to her directly. These will not be tax-deductible, and can be mailed to
Donna Signorelli c/o The Custody Project. Please click our Sponsorship link for additional information.

Mothers in Peril

As our mothers usually experience many complications and difficulties when faced with custody issues, the Caravan ran during the Summer of 2008 to raise awareness and support for them. Its impetus and some of their difficulties are expressed in Mothers in Peril and in our Annual Letters.